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This issue based on the Statistical Yearbook 2014 (http://www.unescap.org/resources/statistical-yearbook-asia-and-pacific-2014), released on 9 December 2014. It highlights some of the social issues and policy challenges in Asia and the Pacific, some of the links between these issues, and the role of data in making better decisions in future to ensure no one is left behind.

The first Asia-Pacific Modernization Newsletter produced by the Strategic Advisory Body for the Modernization of Statistical Production and Services in Asia and the Pacific (SAB-AP) and the Modernization Working Group on Production, Methods and Standards (MWG). This newsletter is designed to be an easy way to access information and resources about the regional and global work on modernization, in particular tailored to the needs of Asia and the Pacific. It will also tell you about the work of the SAB-AP and the MWG.

2014 Year-end Update Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific

Asia and the Pacific is forecast to see a moderate increase in growth in 2015. This will be driven by better growth in a range of developing economies, aided by structural reform programmes which are likely to improve the domestic business environment. Several exporting economies will exhibit relatively unchanged growth at moderate levels, with a positive factor being the seemingly sustained recovery in the United States, although slow growth in the eurozone and Japan will remain a challenge.

The Asia-Pacific Statistics Newsletter, Fourth Quarter 2014, provides information on "The first Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific"; features an Interview with Mr Trevor Sutton, Deputy Australian Statistician and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Body for the Modernization of Statistical Production and Services in Asia and the Pacific (SAB-AP); provides update on the areas of work; and announces important events and meetings.

Rising inequality as well as the need to build resilience to crises, whether economic and financial crises, or natural disasters, have increased the call for strengthening social protection in the Asia-Pacific region.

To strengthen social protection, most countries in the region have already set in place income support schemes, often targeted towards certain vulnerable groups. Those include schemes for providing universal social pensions for older persons, income support schemes targeted at poor families, schemes targeting women, as well as food-for-work schemes.

This Guidance Document aims to support country stakeholders including governments, Joint UN Teams on AIDS, civil society partners and others to undertake a review of national laws, policies and practices to enable full achievement of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services, and to conduct a national, multisectoral consultation on legal and policy barriers to HIV services for PLHIV and key populations.

The Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific provides the Asian and Pacific region, and the world, with the first set of regionally agreed disability-inclusive development goals. The Incheon Strategy goals cover a range of development areas from poverty reduction and employment to political participation, accessibility, social protection, education, gender equality, disaster risk reduction, data collection, CRPD ratification and international cooperation.

ESCAP produced an easy-to-understand version of the Incheon Strategy to "Make the Right Real" for Persons with Disabilities to reach out to wider public including persons with diverse disabilities. The easy-to-understand version provides the background of the Incheon Strategy and description of its Goals, Targets and Indicators in a simple language, and with illustrations drawn by a Thai deaf artist. The drafting of the easy-to-understand version involved persons with intellectual disabilities, their family members as well as the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability.

Modern societies are characterized by high-tech computers, the Internet and huge amounts of data generated by the digital footprint of modern lives. Despite all this data the world learned a very obvious but valuable lesson from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – without data it is not possible to set baselines or monitor progress towards the achievement of the development targets. As a consequence, the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda called for a “new data revolution” for sustainable development.

The United Nations recognizes that productivity capacity building is the key for self-sustained growth and graduation of LDCs in Asia and the Pacific. To achieve this objective, substantial financing must be mobilized to invest in infrastructure, social development and climate changechallenges. Despite the significant progresses made by the Asia-Pacific LDCs in restoring macroeconomic stability, deepening the banking sector and attracting FDI and remittances, for many, fiscal spaces remain narrow and financial markets largely inefficient and undiversified.